Naruto revised
by Just Mat
Summary: Three extra kids are put into Naruto's ninja class. This small change in the story turns it into a completely different one. Poll for pairings and main weapon is running. Just try...
1. An introductionprologue

**Alrighty... This is my first fanfic about the knucklehead with the orange jumpsuit, which I actually think is kinda cool. Anyway, I'm going to try and write an update once a week and make the chapters longer than I usually do (Which really is freakin' short). This is really the first time I'm actually writing a story just for the sake of writing a story. If you don't want to write a review because you're too lazy, no prob. I feel the same way. However, I do find reviews to be great stimuli, so I would really appreciate some. (I'll also add some polls just for that reason. As a matter of fact, I'll let you influence quite a big part of the storyline, under my influence of course, but hey). Anyway, you probably have enough of my blabbering by now but I still want two add two more things. One, I don't know too many fancy Japanese words, so I have no idea what I'm going to do once a jutsu is used, I'll probably switch between Japanese and English. The second and last thing is:**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any knuckleheads, pink-haired fangirls, brooding emo-brats or other Naruto characters and I never will.**

* * *

This version of the Naruto story starts with the first day of Naruto's second-last year at the academy. He is now ten years old and very much like the Naruto everyone know. No differences there. But the event that makes my version different occurs on this day with ...something just a tad cliché. You'll see.

* * *

Chapter one: A general introduction

Jumping from street-tile to street-tile on one leg, Naruto got closer and closer to the academy. He was already late, kinda'. About two hours. It didn't really matter. Anyone who was late was in for punishment, which he was anyway with him being Naruto. Just three yards away from his destination, Naruto heard a bell, signaling the break. He lowered his leg and started walking normally. School sucked, the teachers sucked, most of his teammates sucked and life sucked in general as well... But break was okay.

Once inside the academy compound, Naruto sought out his usual spot in the bushes. People generally left him alone there. He then proceeded to take out some rice balls and ate them. Food always tasted better during an official break.

He'd just finished his last one when the bell rang. He sighed melancholic-ally and made his way towards his class. Most of the kids were more enthusiastic and he was the last to enter. He trudged towards his seat, but stopped when he noticed that someone was already in it.

"Who are you?" The birthmark face asked confusedly.

The boy in his seat looked up. **(AN: I forgot to mention, I find it easier to describe people from the toes up, so that's what I'll be doing all throughout the story whenever a new character or a character with a new outfit shows up. Also, you might have noticed that we've already reached the cliché part. A new classmate!!) **He had heavy, beige shoes which were probably made for either walking long distances or kicking people so they would break bones. His pants were black, wide and heavy with a lot of pockets, seemingly empty. A loose, bright red shirt with a skull and two crossed bones on it hung loosely on his torso, covered with a flack jacket that was as brightly orange as Naruto's jumpsuit. This outfit was topped off with a red cap. **(AN: Yep, this is what I usually wear) **His brown/blond hair was about two inches long and could be seen peeking out from under the cap. He was tall and strongly built, but not muscular. Finally his face. As the boy looked up at Naruto, the prankster saw his own confusion reflected in the other's eyes, which were brown. The boy looked like he hadn't slept in a couple of days. It wasn't that he had bags under his eyes or that his eyelids kept drooping. It was more in the way he looked at you, like sleeping for seven days straight wouldn't make him less sleepy.

After a couple of seconds of confused staring, the boy blinked and took on a concentrating frown. After a couple more seconds of this, his eyes suddenly sprang all the way open and he said: "I'm Zarran Dashimaru. Pleasure to meecha!" The confused and sleepy look on his face was replaced with a happy, confident and wide awake smile that took Naruto by surprise.

The surprise didn't last long, though, Naruto being Naruto and being able to adapt quickly. He flashed his smile before proclaiming: "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, future hokage." Naruto looked like he was sure of himself, but inside was different. Waiting for the rejection, for when yet another kid would reject him for no reason at all. The boy, however, just nodded and laid back, pulling his cap over his eyes to shield them from light. All that he said was "Kay".

Naruto's grin didn't falter as he looked around for another seat. This was hard. His entire three person bench was usually empty because no one wanted to sit next to him. Now, however, all three were filled. In the middle seat, on the left from the now sleeping kid sat another boy, and on the other free spot was a girl.

The middle boy, in contrast to the sleeper, was rather short. Shorter than Naruto himself, which made the blonde's smile even more pronounced. The boy had black ninja sandals under army-style three-quarter pants. His legs were a bit skinny, but not unhealthily so. He had a dark, grey sweater with a hood, which was currently resting in his neck. His hair was only half an inch long and he had a stupid grin on his face. A chord around his neck was also visible, but the pendant was hidden under his sweater.

The girl, who seemed to be literally bouncing with excess energy, was wearing a black one-piece (like the one the chick in Underworld is wearing, or the chick in Matrix, if you haven't seen underworld. If you've seen neither of these, you really need to lower the amount of anime you're watching) She had blond hair, like Naruto, and dark green eyes.

They both grinned at him for a second, and then returned their attention to the front of the class, where the teacher had just entered. Naruto also turned that way, and saw a teacher he did not recognize. _Must be a new guy_ he thought. The teacher's eyes swung to him, the only one who was not yet seated, and they narrowed with annoyance, not with hatred, like Naruto had expected.

"You must be Uzumaki Naruto. Tell me, why weren't you attending class this morning?" The teacher asked.

Naruto scratched the back of his head and gave his "I know I'm in trouble but I'm pretending I don't" grin, which the teacher didn't buy.

"Well?"

"I... Uhhh... I kinda' lost my way." Naruto knew he was screwed, but was infinitely surprised with the reply.

"Yeesss." Naruto could see the teacher wasn't believing him. "Well, you're getting away with it this time, but there better not be a second time. Got that? Good, now sit down... somewhere." The teacher looked around with a frown on his face, pronouncing the scar above his nose. **(AN: you should know who the teacher is by now)** He scratched the back of his head in thought before he shrugged his shoulders and waved his hand at the door in a vague matter. "Go get a spare chair from someone and you can just join a group.

Naruto happily obliged, thinking along the way that this year might just turn out okay. He had a teacher who didn't seem to hate him on first sight, and three kids who didn't seem to mind him. Running along, Naruto loudly punched the air, "Yeah."

* * *

The next two years went well for the knucklehead. The teacher, Iruka, continued to be civil with him, unless Naruto pulled a prank or did something stupid. The three new Kids (Zarran Dashimaru, Mairu Iba and the girl, who was called Iyuno Yuko), Naruto got along with amazingly well. Plus, because he had friends, other kids weren't avoiding him as much as they used to, and he became close to those as well. All in all, things had taken a turn for the better for Naruto.

* * *

**Well, this was the first chapter/prologue kind of thing. Hope you liked it. If you want the story to go in a specific direction, put it in a review and I will definitely take it into consideration. Also, I know this chapter isn't really that long, but it really was a prologue and I felt I needed to stop here. Ehm, I think that is about all I was going to say.**

**Anyway, here's the first poll.**

**Pairings, here are your options:**

**1. Naruto x Tenten**

**2. Naruto x Temari**

**3. Naruto x Ino**

**4. Naruto x Yugito**

**5. Naruto x OC**

**6. Naruto x Yuko**

**Other pairings are open for all suggestions. Just put them in your review, hehehe.**

**As for Naruto's weapon:**

**1. Spear**

**2. Blade-spear**

**3. Double sai**

**4. Big over-sized sword like Zabuza's**

**5. Crossbow (sniper style)**

**6. No weapon**

**That's it. Remember, any ideas for another poll, storyline, pairings or other are welcome. Just put them in a review, alongside your vote for my poll.**


	2. Genin exams

**I couldn't help myself and I started writing this chapter right after I finished the first, I don't think I'll finish it on the same day, though, seeing as it's already 9:03 and I have school first thing tomorrow. Sigh, I long for the weekend. Anyway, if you've skipped past the poll but are reading this for some reason, just skip back to first chapter.**

**This chapter is about how the rookie twelve, yes, it's a rookie twelve in my story, pass their exams. I'm not going to do this the entire story, focusing on every character I mean. Only with the noteworthy events. It's mainly gonna' be about Naruto. Just see this as even more introduction, as Naruto will be getting missions will be getting missions and stuff with all of them and you should know who they are.**

**Disclaimer: No matter how I look at it, I don't really own Naruto in a way that would make me really rich, so I guess I don't really own him.**

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Chapter 2: Genin exams

Naruto groaned both inwardly and outwardly. His back still hurt from yesterday. Iruka-sensei had made him clean the entire Hokage monument. Admittedly, he had painted it first, but still. He groaned again, he might have gotten away if he'd had someone to watch his back, but alas, even Iba who was his best friend barely hung around with him outside school.

"Uzumaki Naruto, forward please."

And there was the second reason for his groan. He just knew he was going to fail this thing. He'd been training almost 24/7 this last year, and he just knew he'd improved greatly. Actually, putting him in the class top ten wouldn't even be that much of a lie. The test subject, bunshin no jutsu, was now performable for him. Still, something was going to go wrong. He stepped from his seat, which was an improvised fourth bench seat, seeing as they'd had too many students the last two years, and walked towards the small room in which the exams were to be held. Dashimaru, the only other student who hadn't taken the exam yet, grunted a good luck towards him from beneath his cap, before resuming his slight snoring. Naruto had found, somewhere along the last two years, that Dashimaru was almost a second Shikamaru. The differences being that the shadow user had a slightly bigger tendency towards brain and the cap-wearer being a better brawn-er. Dashimaru could be pretty energetic, though, he just needed something interesting to do. He only slept when he thought nothing interesting was going on, whereas Shikamaru thought sleeping was interesting.

Naruto closed the door behind him. Behind a desk, filled with headbands sat his two examiners, Iruka and Mizuki. "Alright, Naruto, please perform the bunshin no jutsu, you'll need to make at least three usable ones and will only get one chance, proceed." These were the only words Iruka spoke before he leaned back in his chair with an encouraging and confident smile on his face, knowing his favorite student was able enough. Mizuki had more of a smirk covering his face. Naruto had had him as his teacher before got Iruka and didn't like the white haired man one bit.

The prick probably thought he couldn't do shit, but he'd show him. Naruto formed the seal and carefully accumulated chackra, forming it into three exact copies of him. He prepared the chakra, but just before he released he felt a sharp sting in the lower part of his back. He was still stiff. Naruto felt the forms slipping away, losing form and becoming virtually shapeless masses on the ground. He held on, though. Slowly but surely, he reformed the masses, turning them into clones again. When he was sure he'd succeeded, he finally let go, panting for breath.

Reforming the clones had taken a lot of chakra, but Naruto had pretty impressive reserves. "Congratulations!" Iruka practically beamed as he passed Naruto a headband. Naruto gratefully accepted it, and missed the angry glare on Mizuki's face as he turned around and left through the second door. He'd made it. He was officially a ninja.

"Now nothing can stop me from becoming hokage."

* * *

After leaving the academy building, Naruto found himself in the midst of all the graduated kids being congratulated on passing the test. This slightly dampened Naruto's great mood as he himself had no parents and most others hated him with a passion. He didn't really see how all these kids could have graduated. Most had little to no skill, and were decidedly unfit for ninja life. As he pondered this, Dashimaru walked over to him, acknowledging his assent to ninja with a small nod of his head and a glance at the headband he wore on his head. Naruto scanned his friend for his headband, but couldn't find it until said friend lifted his left foot. He'd wrapped his hitai-ate around his ankle, well, at least it was original. Just then, Yuko entered the fray, taking in both their hitai-ate with only a second of searching. She congratulated them both, before asking if they wanted to come over to her place for dinner, as they both didn't have family or didn't have family in Konoha.

Naruto went back to his former good mood at this. "Course, your mum's a great cook."

"No thanks. I'm gonna' go train."

Yuko looked at Dashimaru with an exasperated expression before pressing the point. "Come on, you've gotta' eat some time. You just can't go on training."

"What are you talking about?" Dashimaru answered with a grin that explained he'd been kidding and still was. "I'm gonna' make myself something when I get hungry."

Iba, who'd just shown up, hadn't seen the smile. "Really? Mind if I come along? My dad's out of town and I feel like celebrating. And celebrating alone is lame."

Yuko cut in before it could escalate further. "No, he's coming over to eat at my place, but you can come as well."

"Sure, I'll come!"

And so they went.

* * *

The next day, all new genin were gathered in one room to hear who'd be in their new team. Naruto, Iba, Dashimaru and Yuko sat at their usual spot. Naruto and yuko were both bouncing in their chairs, eager to know who their team would be, hoping it was another one of the four. Iba was writing in a notebook, something he'd taken to when bored. Dashimaru was sleeping again, cap pulled over his eyes as usual.

"Now, if everyone would please quiet down. Mizuki is in prison, so I have to do this alone. Would you all please work with me." Many wondered what Mizuki was doing in prison, but no one really liked him, so they quickly dismissed it and quieted down. "Alright," Iruka continued, "When I call the name of your team, please stay seated and remain silent, when all teams have been called, your jonin-senseis will come to pick you up. Team one ...**Fast forward**...Team seven, Mairu Iba, Haruno Sakura..." Groaning could be heard from two different sources. The pink haired fan-girl and the short midget had never gotten along really good. "And Uchiha Sasuke." The class was silent for two seconds, before Sakura could be heard screaming and proclaiming her undying love while Iba banged his head on the table multiple times and other girls shouted objections. The Uchiha didn't make a sound, it didn't matter who'd be on his team, everyone would slow him down in his rightful quest to kill his brother.

"Team eight will consist of Inuzuka Kiba, Huyga Hinata and uzumaki Naruto." Again, the results were varied. Hinata fainted downright off her stool, Kiba grumbled something incomprehensible, but didn't seem too mad and Naruto just figured he could have had much worse.

"Team nine will consist of three random kids who won't pass the second test anyway and aren't really worth mentioning" This comment from the teacher just inspired a lot of looks of confused amusement.

"Team ten will consist of Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji" Two smirks and gleeful looks at each other. "And iyuko Yuno." "Sugoi, I get the brains and brawl of this class!" Chouji puffed his chest out proudly and Shikamaru smirked again. _At least I got the least troublesome woman of the bunch._

"Now, the last team, team eleven will consist of Aburame Shino, Zarran Dashimaru and Yamanaka Ino." Shino just nodded his head at this. Dashimaru snored, but slightly lifted one hand to show he'd heard. Ino hadn't heard, having kept muttering about how life wasn't fair.

"Your Jonin-senseis will come for you shortly." With that, Iruka took one last look at his class and then left the classroom.

Team eleven was picked up by Genma right away

Team ten was picked up after a couple of minutes later by Sarutobi Asuma, who'd forgotten where the academy was.

Team eight was picked up one minute after Asuma left. Yuhi Kurenai'd assumed her team would come outside.

Team seven was picked up three hours later by a one-eyed scarecrow who'd gotten lost on the road of life. Life sucks when you're on team seven.

* * *

"Alright! I'm supposed to ask you guys about your dreams, likes and everything, but we can do that later. Right now, I want to choose your team captain. I've put out a small course for each one of you, the first one to reach the end of it wins." Genma betrayed nothing as he said this, wanting them to do this for themselves.

"Haiya, the title of team captain is mine." Ino cried extatically. She didn't really know what the others could do, but she was the class' strongest kunoichi and she would impress Sasuke-kun with her leadership abilities.

A silent nod was all the reaction from the silent bug-boy. He knew he wasn't really fit for the role of leader. He figured Ino would get it, seeing as she wanted it and definitely had the balls to get it.

Dashimaru didn't care. He'd wanted to become a ninja since it seemed the right thing to do. His whole family had been ninja. He didn't want to be a leader of any kind because leaders always got way more responsibility, something Dashimaru didn't really like. He'd take the job, though, if Genma-sensei thought he was the best choice. "No problem."

"Alright then. Come this way." Genma led them to a training ground with a large ravine in the middle. Three wooden pathways were in it, connected to each other in a weird fashion, but not to the ravine edge. Genma led the three newbies to one edge of the training grounds and pointed towards a wooden pole on the other side of the ravine. "Your objective is to reach that wooden pole. GO!!"

Shino immediately went for it, at least wanting to put an effort in. The other two didn't react as fast, surprised by the lack of explanation and the suddenness of the startsignal. After that, they shot off as well.

Shino's head start vanished abruptly as the wooden pathway he had chosen suddenly tipped, as did the other two. Apparently, the three improvised, wooden roads formed some kind of sea-sawing madness.

Ino hesitated again when she reached the second pathway, loath to go on something this dangerous. Dashimaru on the other hand, jumped as far as he could and scrabbled to reach the center, which was steady. He made it at about the same time as Shino. After a couple of seconds, the construction settled again.

Dashimaru was wondering what to do. How could he possibly get to the other side without help. Shino spoke to him, his voice still calm. "We need to work together."

Dashimaru nodded. He could see what had been meant. If one person were to blindly run towards the edge, the other could step slightly forward and then back, tipping the balance enough to drop the runner into the gap before returning to safety. But if the three of them worked together, they might just find a way to get everyone to the other side.

Dashimaru looked back to Ino, who'd spent her time looking for another route, but not finding one. "Ino, I need you to step onto the pathway and also come to the center."

Ino gave him a sceptic look before replying. "And then I'll drop and you can become captain, yeah right."

Dashimaru sighed, he should have known this wasn't going to be easy. "Ino, the only way to reach the other side is to work together, you don't have a choice but to trust me on this."

Ino took a couple of seconds to think before conceding, the guy did seem to be right, even if he was lazy. "Fine!" She stepped carefully onto the ledge, glaring at the two two boys, daring them to betray her. They didn't however, and with the help of them dividing their weight, she made it safely to the middle.

So now there were three of them.

Dashimaru took a second to analyze the situation, while Ino looked around scaredly and Shino remained his stoic self. The best plan was if two were to take a dash while the third went the other way. Then those two would make it to the other side and could then lift, or push down, their pathways while the last took the walk. He trusted Shino enough to do this, and he knew he wouldn't betray anyone himself, but he had doubts concerning Ino. He didn't know her too well, but had always taken her for a spoilt brat. He decided to take the risk. "Ino? Can I trust you?"

"Are you saying I'm not trustworthy?"

_Sigh_. "No, I just need to be sure."

_Hmph. _"yes! You can trust me."

"Okay then, here's the plan. You and Shino go towards that side," Points towards the pole, "While I edge towards the other side. When you get there, you manipulate the pathways in such a way that I can get to the other side as well. When everyone has made it, then we continue the race. Got that?"

"Hai!"

"Hai."

"Good. Don't forget to start slowly, keep an eye on the others, and and the distance with a quick run."

The plan went as planned and all three of them got to the other side, panting slightly for breath. Then, all at the same time, they jumped up and went for the pole again. The distance wasn't great enough to gain a lot of ground and all three of them were fast, so it was a close call. It didn't really matter, though, cause when they were two meters from the pole, a smiling Genma suddenly poofed up in front of them, causing them to halt.

"Congratulations! You passed."

A double "Huh" could be heard at this proclamation.

"Yes," Genma explained, "Actually, this was a test to see if you were fit to become genin. The test at the academy was to see if every one of you had the skills. This test was to see if you had the skills as a team, and you do. You really should be proud of yourselves, as this test has 33 pass rate."

The bug user gave a nod.

The sleeper shrugged and smiled.

The blonde didn't give a damn.

"But who gets to be team captain?"

Genma looked confusedly at her for a moment before remembering. "Oh, right" _cough _"Genins usually don't have a team captain, and when they do the title isn't really that important. But if you're so hooked up on it, I guess it won't really hurt much. Very well, the team captain of genin team eleven is... Zarran Dashimaru!"

The bug user gave an understanding and approving nod.

The sleeper shrugged and said, "Oh!"

The blonde was absolutely livid.

"Nani?"

Genma sighed. "Well, seeing as you passed, I guess I'll have to do the "get to know you" thing. Come to my place, my wife will make something and then we can talk over food. I always like to think that makes it more personal. You guys coming?"

The boys complied and followed the senbon chewing man. Ino also came, but not before she had spent some minutes first gawking and then glaring at three men. "Men are pigs." She mumbled. "Except for Sasuke-kun of course."

Team eleven was now sitting around a modest table in Genma's modest sitting room, eating some teriyaki rice. "Okay, now I'd like each of you to tell about your dreams, likes, dislikes and whatever you can think of." Their jonin-sensei said wile chewing a particularly tasty piece of chicken.

Ino, who had been scowling at their sensei's table manners perked up at this and started off. "I'm Yamanaka Ino, the hottest kunoichi of this generation. My dream is to marry Sasuke-kun. My likes are Sasuke-kun and flowers. My dislikes are Forehead girl, lazy people and fat-asses." _Pointed glare at Dashimaru._

"Stop there." Genma interjected before the next one could start. "About this Sasuke, I don't want to hear anything about him, ever, unless it is actually relevant to the mission or whatever is going on at the time. I don't care about him and I don't want you to distract others talking about him. Got that?" Ino reluctantly nodded. "Now that that's covered, let's go on. Dashimaru, if you will."

"Okay, I'm Dashimaru. I act lazy most of the time," _Apologizing glance at Ino_ "But I promise I'll be good on missions. My dream is to survive. I'll take life as it comes. My likes are sleeping, and mentioning my dislikes would only be annoying."

Genma reacted with an approving nod. "Good, I wanted to know if your laziness would present problems, but apparently that isn't an issue. Shino?"

"I am Shino from the Aburame clan. My dream is for my Kikai family to thrive and become as large and strong as that of my father. I like nature and am too tempered to dislike anything.

Genma nodded, taking up the tail. "I am Genma, and will be your sensei for the coming years until you reach chunin. I won't let you die until that time and I promise that I won't go dying on you. My dream is to see you becoming strong and capable ninja. I like food, and I dislike my wife."

A loud and angry "I heard that, you dirty shit-weasel." could be heard from the kitchen. The argument quickly escalated and the three genin arranged to meet at eight the next morning before saying goodbye and escaping to their homes.

That night, lying in bed, all four of them thought on what had occured and what was yet to occur with their new team.

Ino: _I guess my sensei is okay, although it isn't fair that he made Dashimaru team captain. He's also okay, though. But Shino's creepy. He never says anything. Sigh, I wish I'd been on Sasuke's team..._

Shino: _Bbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... I think this team is quite capable. The weak link right now is Ino, but she has it in her to become a very capable kunoichi... Bbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..._

Dashimaru: _Could have been worse... Much worse... Actually, they're really okay... I don't mind them one bit... Sigh, I wish I could sleep, back to training it is._

Genma: _Great team. I can't wait to tell Kurenai about them. I really need to break up with my wife, but Kurenai won't break up with Asuma. Damn this affair, well at least she'll have sex with me (Not thinking about wife). Great team. I can't_ _wait to tell Kurenai about..._

* * *

"Team ten, if you'd come with me..." Shikamaru, Chouji and Yuko kept pace with Asuma as they went outside and jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

"Where are we going? All this running is troublesome." Complained Shikamaru loudly.

"Almost there." Came Asuma's reply. "We're there." They came to an empty training ground and Asuma sat down on a turned down log, motioning for the three to sit as well. "Okay, I'm actually supposed to give you some test to see if you guys are capable of teamwork, but I forgot, so I'm just passing you. Congratulations!"

"Troublesome."

_Munch_ "Okay" _Munch_

"Are you being serious?"

Nod

"Well, at least we pass."

"Okay. The other thing we're supposed to do is introduce ourselves. I'll start so you can get the general idea. My name is Sarutobi Asuma. I like beating up enemies and dislike things that aren't necessary. My dream is to raise some worthwhile kids. Your turn, Blondie."

"I'm Iyuno Yuko. I like hanging around with my friends, I dislike being called Blondie. My dream is to learn medic jutsus."

"Pineapple hair?"

"Nara Shikamaru. I like watching clouds and dislike troublesome things. My dream is to grow up to be an average shinobi. I want to marry a simple woman, not too beautiful, not too ugly, and have two kids. First a girl and then a boy."

"The guy with the normal hair?"

"Are you saying my hair isn't normal?"

"Stop being so troublesome!"

"I'm not being troublesome!"

_Sigh_

_Munch munch _"My name is Akimichi Chouji." _Munch munch _"I want to become as strong as my father." _Munch munch _"I like food." _Munch munch _"And I dislike people who call me fat." _Munch munch._

"Well, that's it. I'll see you here tomorrow one hour after sunrise. I'll get a couple of missions and I'll also take the three of you apart to see what you're capable of. Now scat!"

These four also reflected on their day.

Shikamaru: _Troublesome. At least I got Chouji on my team, but still. Troublesome..._

Chouji: _This is great. I got my best friend on the same team and Yuko is also really nice. She never calls me nice..._

Yuko: _My teammates are either lazy or fat, but I'm sure we'll become really strong..._

Asuma: _Maybe I should have done something about that test. Well, I'll see about it tomorrow..._

* * *

Naruto followed Kurenai and Kiba away from the academy grounds, with Hinata trailing behind him.

His female jonin-sensei had looked at him with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye. Kiba, he'd grown pretty close to over the last two years. Hinata was always really nice and had never wronged him. Still, it would have been nice to have at least one person from his old gang on his team.

They'd just arrived at one of the training grounds when Kurenai turned around with a motherly smile on her face and said: "Alright, before we do anything, I want everyone to introduce himself. Don't forget to mention your dreams, likes and dislikes."

A certain blond knucklehead eagerly raised his hand. No one had ever been this warm to him. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like Ramen, Sakura-chan, Iba, Yuko and Dashimaru. I dislike Sasuke-teme, bullies and the three minutes it takes to make ramen. My goal is to become the next Hokage."

Kurenai smiled at him and motioned to Kiba that it was his turn.

"Heh. I'm Inuzuka Kiba and this is Akamaru. I like a lot of things in life and I dislike wimps" _Hinata cowers _"My dream is to become big and strong and to get a litter that is also big and strong."

Kurenai's motherly smile faltered slightly at the last bit coming from a twelve year old kid, but she quickly picked it up again. "And you?" She looked at Hinata.

"A-ano..." _Fingers poking _"I like... uh-um..."

"You can start with who you are." Kurenai prompted gently, to which Hinata jumped and grew even redder.

"Um... R-right. I-i am H-hy-hyuga Hina-Hinata... A-and I want t-to become...s-strong." Hinata's voice broke down at the end, and Kurenai got a sympathetic smile on her face.

"Okay, we're going to do a simple exercise right now. I want you to take that tag down. The one you can see hanging from that pole."

Before she'd even finished the sentence, Kiba ran forward and threw his dog companion into the air. Akamaru managed to grab onto the tag with his teeth and was caught again by Kiba. In short, they had just passed in the lamest way possible. The dog boy then turned back to his sensei, who had a troubled frown marring her face.

_They managed to get the objective, but they didn't use any form of teamwork between the three of them. I don't think that I should let them pass, but I feel that I can really help them, especially Hinata and Naruto. What to do... _This is what went through Kurenai's mind as Kiba continued jumping up and down to celebrate his easy success. In the end, her motherly side was what decided the outcome. "Good job, you are now officially a genin team. Don't ask any questions, just be happy. Now, who's hungry."

"I am! Dattebayo!!"

"Hai, that mission really took a lot out of me."

"U-um..."

Later that evening, as Naruto was eating Ramen at Ichiraku's with Iruka, he told him all about his new team and sensei. Iruka just listened silently throughout the whole story, but was immensely happy for his surrogate little brother.

"That's wonderful, Naruto. But don't be too happy just yet. you're only a genin and you'll be getting a lot of D-rank missions."

"D-rank missions? Ah, well. I guess that's better than E-rank missions."

"Ehm, Naruto?"

"Yeah."

"there is no such thing as an E-rank mission. D is the lowest rank."

"Nani?"

Later that night...

Naruto: _Damn D-rank missions. Iruka-sensei better not be screwing with me..._

Kiba: _Ha, we got the cutest girl in the class and the former dobe. I guess it could have been worse. What say you, Akamaru?.._

Akamaru: _Wroof..._

Hinata: _I'm on Naruto-kun's team. But what do I say to him..._

Kurenai: _I really did get an adorable bunch, although I'd better not tell Asuma about the test or he'll make fun of me. I'll just tell him they're really talented. I can tell Genma-kun the truth, though..._

* * *

The unlucky team seven spent their time in different ways. Sasuke's didn't differ from his daily activities, namely brooding and sulking. Sakura spent her time admiring this, and Iba went back to his writing. This way, they all had something worthwhile to do while waiting for their sensei.

When said sensei finally showed up, his forst words were "You guys seem okay, meet me on the roof in two minutes." And he poofed away.

All three jumped up, leaped out of the window and sat down on the roof, opposite from Kakashi.

"Alright, Brats. Tell me all about your likes, dislikes and dreams. Also your name of course. You start Pinkie."

"Shouldn't you be giving an example?" Pinkie retorted.

"Sure. I'm Hatake Kakashi. I have some likes and some dislikes. I'm not gonna' share my dreams with you. Your turn."

_Three sweat drops_

"Hai! My name is Haruno Sakura. My likes are... (glances at Sasuke and giggles). I dislike Naruto-baka and Ino-pig. My dreams are (glances once again at the emo while giggling in an even more preposterous fashion)."

"Al-riiiiight. You go, Shrimp."

"I'm Mairu Iba. I like writing. I dislike people who can't appreciate good stories and make fun of them without having read them. My dream is to become just like Jiraiya, the toad sannin, who is both an amazing writer and an S-class shinobi."

"Okay... Have you by any chance read any of his novels?"

"No, but I've heard they are really good."

"Hrrm! They are. But I suggest that you wait a couple of years before trying them. your turn, Broody!"

"I am Uchiha Sasuke, the last survivor and sole heir of the almighty Uchiha clan. I have few likes and too many dislikes. My dream is more of an ambition... an ambition to kill a certain person." _Glare, glare, brood, brood._

"Okay, that's about it. I'll see you at training ground seven tomorrow at seven o'clock. Make sure you don't eat anything or you'll puke. You'll receive your second test there."

"What do you mean second test?" **"Yeah! What do you mean? Shannaroo!!" **Sakura and her inner counterpart wanted to know.

"The first test, the one you've already passed, tests if you have the book skills. This one tests if you're really fit for the life of a shinobi. This test also has a 66 fail rate. Well, see ya!" _Poof_

The three genin-to-be stared at the spot where their sensei had been before turning to leave.

"Sasuke-kun, do you want to..."

"No!"

The next day, three haggard looking faces could be found at training ground seven at an hour that should have been outlawed. They'd all resumed where they'd left off yesterday. When their sensei finally arrived at ten o'clock, an emo grunted, a midget sighed, and a banshee screamed.

"You're late!"

"Hai. Hai. I got lost on the road of life. Now, I'll explain the rules of this test. You have until twelve o'clock to take a bell from me. There are only two, and those who fail to get a bell will be sent back to the academy, but first they'll be tied to a wooden pole while the others eat some delicious food. You must come at me with the intent to kill if you want to succeed. Got all that?"

There were three determined nods.

"Good, then start."

There were three black blurs as the three genin jumped into the trees, looking for a good hiding spot. All three already had a plan formulated in his mind.

Sasuke: _I'll wait till he drops his guard and then I'll pincushion him with kunai and shuriken_!

Sakura: _I'll wait till Sasuke-kun comes out and beats him. Then he'll give one of the bells to me and he'll say he loves me and we'll become a really strong team together and marry and have children and..._

Iba: _I'll wait till I see an opportunity. Until then, I'll just write something about this setting. I'll have to change it a bit, though. If I decide to turn this into more than a one-shot, the team will have to pass completely. There's no such thing as a two man genin cell after all..._

That's when it all fell into place for Iba. There were no two man cells, so he couldn't pass only two of them. That meant they were doomed to failure. That couldn't be it. So this was a test, what was the guy testing. It seemed to be their individual combat prowess, but, seeing the circumstances, that couldn't be it. What if...

Sasuke was waiting for his chance when the silver-haired jonin took a book from his back pocket and started reading it. Yes, this was probably the best chance he'd get. He took out his gear and let loose.

Or he would have let loose if his arm hadn't been stopped by another arm, that of a midget.

"Let go, Midget-baka."

"No, wait. I've figured it out."

"Figured what out? Let go."

"The purpose of the test. Listen to me. Have you ever heard of a two cell genin team?"

"No, but that doesn't mean they don't exist." But even though it didn't sound like it, the emo knew the other was right. He was just loathe to admit to not seeing something first. "Okay, I see where you're going I think. If what you say is true, then Kakashi probably wants to test our teamwork. In that case we have to..."

Sakura squeaked as she heard rustling in the bushes next to her, but quickly recovered. She sucked at being a ninja, nut she still was one.

The rustling turned out to have been made by Iba. "Oy, Pinkie. We need to work together."

"No way. I'm not gonna' gang up on Sasuke-kun."

"That's good, cause I am here as well." Came the voice of Sasuke from the other side.

"Sasuke-kun. The midget wanted me to betray you."

"Shut up, Pinkie." From aforementioned midget.

"Did you hear that, Sasuke-kun? He told me to..."

"Shut up!" This time from Sasuke.

"But..." Sakura trailed off as she saw the look on her crush's face.

"Okay, I have an idea of how we could pull this off." Iba told the two in a conspiratorial voice...

Kakashi flipped some pages until he came to the next interesting part. he already knew this book and all other icha-icha's by heart. He hoped the next volume would get published soon. Or perhaps his student's books would be just as good. If he played it well, he might find a way to get them at a discount price. Said student would need to pass the test of course. But that was no problem. Nobody had ever done it before, but Kakashi had a good feeling about this year.

He was proven right when Sasuke suddenly attacked him up front. Something no good ninja would do unless it was part of a plan. Kakashi swiftly put his book away, but Sasuke too advantage of the temporarily one-armed jonin and tried to grab his vest with both his hands. Kakashi could block one, but the other found its target.

He wasn't too upset about this, until everything suddenly went black and he heard a loud resounding voice: "Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu." He only just had enough time to slap away the offending hand and use a doton technique to go underground. He came up about ten foot from his original spot, just outside some strange patch of pure darkness, only to be attacked with kunai. Cursing, he jumped back into the darkness, figuring that the enemy would be able to see just as little as he. He cursed again as he felt a hand reach for the two bells. The hand wasn't quite stealthy enough for Kakashi, and he jumped away again.

As he landed in what he estimated to be the center of the darkness, he heard another Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu being fired at him and he had to jump away again. With this jump, he left the dome again, but was also assaulted with kunai again. As he stepped back to dodge them, he felt the hand again. He tried to roll to the side, but his momentum was going backwards.

So, the hand managed to take the bells and dissapeared into the darkness again, which slowly dissipated. Iba and Sasuke were revealed, and Sakura came running out of the bushes to join her precious emo's side.

"We got the bells." Iba declared.

"I take it you guys 've figured the test out, then?" Kakashi asked.

"Hai."

"Hai."

_Nod_

"Okay. Then... You all pass. Congratulations. You're the first team ever to have passed my test. You should count yourself really lucky."

"Yeah right." Sasuke brooded.

**"Shannaroo! Sasuke-kun is the best!!"**

"Great."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow at that bridge over there. Same time." And the silver-haired jonin was off.

"Sasuke-kun, do you want to..."

"No!"

As team eleven lay in their respective beds...

Sasuke: _That darkness technique is pretty strong. They'll still hold me back, though..._

Sakura: _Oh my god. Oh my god. I'm on Sasuke-kun's team. Now he'll suddenly see how strong I could be, and then he'll offer to train me, and then he'll declare his undying love for me, and then we'll..._

Iba: _I guess we only passed the test because I analyzed the situation, albeit on accident. I'll have to keep this in mind. Wish I was on another team, though. Any other team..._

Cyclops... I mean Kakashi: _They passed, interesting. Yes, now I'll get that discount..._

* * *

And this is pretty much how all of the rookie twelve became genin...

* * *

**Alrighty then, Here's the second chapter. And here's the poll again:**

**Pairing:**

**1. Naruto x Tenten 0  
**

**2. Naruto x Temari 0  
**

**3. Naruto x Ino 1**

**4. Naruto x Yuko 0**

**5. Naruto x OC 0  
**

**6. Naruto x Yugito 0  
**

**Other pairings are open for all suggestions. Just put them in your review, hehehe.**

**As for Naruto's weapon:**

**1. Spear 0  
**

**2. Blade-spear 0  
**

**3. Double sai 0  
**

**4. Big over-sized sword like Zabuza's 1  
**

**5. Crossbow (sniper style) 0  
**

**6. No weapon 0**

**That's pretty much all, I guess. Enjoy your weekends, I'm probably gonna' spent a large part of it writing this, so I know I will.**


	3. Journey to wave

**Chapter three is finally here. Hope you'll all enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I ain't not owning nothing, or something to that effect.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Journey to wave.

"No"

"What do you mean, no?"

"I'm not gonna' do another stupid D-rank mission."

"You don't have a choice in the matter."

"I don't care. I won't do it."

It was now a week after the genin exams, and Naruto had decided to complain about the easy, boring and stupid missions his team was getting. Iruka wouldn't hear of it, and this resulted in the two of them having a merry old argument. Sigh, just like the old days.

Sarutobi finally decided that it had taken long enough. "Okay, I deem your team worthy enough to take on a C-rank mission."

Five very much surprised faces looked at him at this, only two of them looking happy. "However, Kurenai, I want you to take on Genma's team as well for this mission. He's about to do a mission in sand with his old team, so his team could still be kept busy this way. I assume this won't be a problem."

Kurenai, who'd already known her lover 'd be gone didn't find fault with the arrangement. "No problem, Hokage-sama. Do you perhaps know where Genma's team is so I can inform them?"

The old man grinned behind his pipe before answering. "I'm sorry, I don't. But I'm sure your team will have no trouble at all finding them. Your mission is to accompany a man called Tazuna to wave country and protect him there, until his bridge is finished. I'll introduce you to him momentarily"

Kurenai nodded before turning her attention to her team. "Okay, find all members of team eleven and tell them to be packed and ready for a two week trip at the gate in exactly two hours, be there yourselves as well. Anyone who is too late gets left behind and can say goodbye to a C-rank mission. Got that?" There were three nods. "Good, now get going." Kurenai saw them off with a small smile. She'd only known them for one week, but she already loved them with her whole heart. "Now, about this tazuna guy?"...

* * *

Team eight stopped right outside the hokage building. "Okay, I say we split up. Everybody gets the responsibility for one person. You choose one person and inform him. I choose... Who was on team eleven again." Naruto's stupidity once again got the better of him.

"A-ano... S-shino-san, Ino-sa-san and Da-dashima-maru-san."

"Great. Dibs on Dashimaru." It was easy to hear that Naruto was looking forward to seeing his old friend again.

"I'll get Ino. She owns that flower shop, right?" Kiba asked , while nodding to himself. Confirming it in his own mind. "And then you get Shino, Hinata-chan."

"Alright! Let's go, dattebayo!" With that, Naruto took off in one direction, Kiba in another, and Hinata remained, poking her fingers together.

* * *

Dashimaru was reading one of his family scrolls at one of the training grounds. He knew he was strong, possibly the strongest of his former clan. He was good at Taijutsu, good enough at genjutsu to dispel any illusion an average genin could throw at him, he was amazing at kenjutsu, although he yet had to buy good swords, and could learn almost any ninjutsu in less than a week. His family scrolls on the other hand, seemed impossible. He banged his head into the tree behind him a couple of times before he suddenly heard a shout.

"Oy, Dashimaru!"

The boy whose name had been called opened his left eye to see the approaching orange blob. "Saa, Naruto. I guess I'd like to know what you're doing here. I hope your not skipping missions." The one eye narrowed disapprovingly. "I know D-rank missions can be boring, believe me, but that doesn't mean you can just..." He left the sentence hanging dangerously in the air.

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Heheh, nothing like that. My team is going on a C-rank mission and your team has to come along."

Dashimaru blinked, of all the things he'd been expecting, that hadn't been on the list. But he guessed it wasn't bad news. "Okay. What's the mission?"

"We're escorting some geezer to wave so he can finish his bridge. And we're leaving in ten minutes, so you'd better hurry up and pack."

Dashimaru nodded, not surprised in the least. Things just didn't go smoothly with Naruto around.

They both headed off to their apartment, only a little bit hurried.

* * *

Shino stood concentrating on his kikai bugs, whom he had spread out around him. This was how he trained, by giving them commands from bigger distances, they would learn to react faster and their bond would become stronger, which in turn would make the individual bugs stronger as well, making them stronger as a whole. Through the eyes of one of his kikai bugs, he spotted one of his old classmates carefully walking up to him. "Hinata-san." was all he said to acknowledge his knowing of her being there.

"Ah. uh, S-shino-san. Our t-team is going on a S-C-class mission a-and Hokage-sama said y-your t-team would a-also b-be going. I-I'm here t-to inform you. Uhm..." The shy girl didn't know how to continue, so she blushed and looked down towards her feet.

"And what does this C-class mission entail?" Shino urged.

"O-oh, r-right. We are t-to escort a m-man to W-wave country where he'll b-build a b-bridge." She didn't raise her head as she said this.

Shino was silent for a moment as he interpreted her words. He wasn't really fluent in the human speech, as were few others in the Aburame clan. They were taught only formal speech and rarely did their speech evolve into something better suited for everyday use. Therefore, it's understandable that Shino was having so much trouble with Hinata's speech for though it was very formal, the stutters were especially hard for someone like him. When he'd figured it out he asked: "When are we to leave?"

"A-ano... in o-one and a h-half hou-hour"

* * *

Ino was bored. She usually was when taking care of her mother's shop. Business was never really good. The only reason they still had this shop was because Ino's mum needed something to do in her free time. It wasn't for profit at all. In fact, they were losing money on the shop, a lot of money. Ino straightened up and forced a smile onto her face when she heard the door open. She'd learned to always be civil to costumers. This was really hard to do as she found herself staring at Kiba. "Do you even know what a flower is?" She asked dumbly with a confused expression on her face.

"Very witty, and yes. I do know what a flower is. A flower is something that grows in a forest and isn't a tree or a shrub." Kiba answered cockily.

"Wrong!" The flower expert shout triumphantly. "The correct definition of a flower is..." She never got to finish her sentence because the dog boy interrupted with a fake yawn "Oouuwaaa!! Frankly, I don't give a damn. Now hurry up and get your stuff, you're going on a C-rank mission with our team. Be at the gate in one hour! Bye." And with that, he left.

Ino stared after him while a smile slowly crept onto her face. A C-rank mission? A trip to wave? "Sugoi!! Mom, I have a mission, so I can't take care of the shop. See you in a week." The girl called to her parents as she grabbed her ready pack, her dad had told her that she could get missions with no notice up front so she'd be prepared for this eventuality, and left immediately. She had a lot of time left, but all she wanted was to get away from the shop. _Freedom._

* * *

When Kurenai and her drunk employer arrived at the gate, with two minutes to spare, she counted five waiting for them where there should have been seven. "Where's Naruto?" She inwardly sighed. He'd been adamant about the mission and now he was going to be late.

As soon as she'd finished that thought, she saw a figure running towards them. _Maybe he was gonna' be on time. He still has half a minute left._

But when he got closer, she saw it was some other boy with a red cap. He must be Dashimaru. Genma-kun was especially proud of him.

The boy come to a skidding halt before bending over and falling onto the ground, panting heavily.

"Are you okay?" Kurenai asked worriedly. Genma-kun would probably be disappointed if she didn't take good care of his students, so she planned on keeping them out of the fighting if any occurred. Her team could easily take care of any bandits, something she was very proud of herself. But if her lover's students were to injure themselves, she shouldn't really do shit about it. Her worries were solved when the panting boy's female teammate spoke in a condescending voice.

"Don't worry about him, he's just lazy." The boy on the ground nodded to this before closing his eyes and pulling his cap down to shield them from the sun.

Kurenai didn't know what to think anymore. Genma surely had a weird team. She put on a stern expression before demanding: "Where's that knucklehead."

Both her present subordinates raised their shoulders at this and glanced towards the seemingly sleeping boy.

"I met him ten minutes ago at training ground 21." The boy said, without lifting his cap.

Still, that explained a lot for Kurenai. Training ground 21 was on the other side of Konoha, so it had probably taken Naruto some time to find Dashimaru. Also, she was quite impressed that a genin had made it all the way from there to here in ten minutes without lapsing into a coma. She decided to cut the blond powerhouse some slack.

Naruto arrived a mere two minutes later and the group left Konoha.

"Yes! I'm actually out of the village! Hahahaha!"

"Stop screaming baka. You're overreacting." Ino complained. She'd forgotten how annoying the the blond could be.

"But this is my first time out of the village."

Tazuna narrowed his eyes at this. "Only your first time out of the village? Kurenai-san, are you sure these kids will be able to protect me. He's never been out of the village before, she seems to be more interested in her looks than anything else, he's a mute, that guy is lazy, that girl looks like she's blind and too afraid to do anything and that kid's got a puppy for heaven's sake!"

"Don't worry about a thing, Tazuna-san. I can vouch for three of them and I'm sure the other half is capable as well."

The bridge builder looked sceptical at that, but decided to let it rest. It wasn't as if he had a choice or anything.

Half an hour after they'd left, Kurenai suddenly motioned for the rest to stop. She then formed a hand seal and said: "Kai!"

A puddle that had been lying on the side of the road suddenly turned into two heavily armored ninja with large metal claws and chain between them. They seemed slightly mollified at having been detected but swiftly let it slide. "It seems you detected our genjutsu..." "...and dispelled it." "We'll still kill you, though." With that they charged at Kurenai, attempting to catch her with their chain. Kurenai had already been forming hand seals, and before they'd taken two steps, they were both being restrained by trees. "What..." "...Is this?"

The red-eyed woman smirked. "This is a very strong genjutsu, and your downfall.

Dashimaru and Ino sighed. _What kind of trash talk is this?_

Kurenai continued. "Now, tell me what you were doing in leaf territory."

The two missing mist nin turned to each other before looking back at the genjutsu mistress. "We..." "...got lost."

Kurenai was at a loss for what to do. She needed to press these two for information, but was loathe to do so. She'd never had the stomach to bear torture. That's when Shino stepped up.

"Kurenai-sensei, if you'll allow me I'd be happy to get information from them." The bug user didn't seem happy about it, but he didn't seem to shy away from it. He was acting kinda' like a robot. She didn't want to put a kid to such a task, but the kid seemed willing and able and the information might be valuable.

"Do it!"

Shino nodded, he then lifted both his arms, pointing them sidewards. A swarm of bugs came from his sleeves and then proceeded towards the two now very scared prisoners. "My kikai bugs are not normal bugs. They have the ability to suck all of one's chakra out of him. My hive consists of two thousand bugs total, enough to cover each one of you completely. Sucking someone with a low to average amount of chakra completely dry takes about one minute. The person then dies. Do you wish to continue?"

The two brothers looked at him like he was out of his mind. How can a mere genin speak about torturing someone to death with so little emotion. Shrugging off the eeriness, both steeled their resolve and looked him in the eye, daring him to continue.

Shino nodded, "Very well then." And the bugs swarmed forward.

Both armored chunin closed their eyes and mouths as the insects surged at them. At the last second, Shino directed his bugs towards the biggest of the two, and the other was left free. He opened his eyes as he heard screams next to him, but felt nothing himself. His eyes widened at what he saw. His brother was indeed covered from head to toe, but glimpses between the bugs were sometimes given, showing that the bugs had eaten through the outer layer of skin. Continuing to stare in morbid fascination, his face grew paler and paler. After half a minute, he puked, but didn't take his eyes away.

When the screams finally stopped and the death throes quieted, the bugs stopped. They just stopped. They didn't move, they didn't make a sound. All they did was give off an aura of waiting for their next prey.

The now single nukenin turned back to the boy who had just killed his brother, waiting for the inevitable death sentence and what he saw scared him almost as much as what had just happened to his brother. The old geezer he was supposed to kill, the team's sensei, the boy in orange, the boy with the dog and the white eyed girl were all staring at the scene in absolute horror. But this wasn't what scared the shit out of him. It was the last two. The blond girl and the red-capped boy. One of them was fussing with her hair and the other one looked bored as hell.

"Do you think my emo-look is better on this side or on this side?"

"Why are you so stuck on the emo look anyway? It doesn't really give the impression of a strong ninja."

"You think? Isn't an emo someone who is prepared to die and won't shy away from death?"

"No. I think that's a lost soul. An emo is someone who tries to get attention by cutting himself. Cutting doesn't suit you, it's very un-ladylike. I think Sasuke might do it, though."

"You think?"

The others were now also staring at the two, wondering how they could be so calm when someone had just been tortured to death right in front of their faces. Especially Tazuna looked spooked.

Shino coughed, wanting it over with. "Now, do you still want to continue?"

Instead of answering, the prisoner looked at Kurenai. "You Konoha ninja are sick. What did you teach these kids?"

Kurenai looked back at him with the same expression on his face. "They're not my students."

This was all she had a chance to say before Shino sent his bugs in for the kill.

"No, stop! I'll tell you everything I know. I surrender." The last demon brother caved in as he waited for the inscets to attack him, to suck him dry.

The insects once again never came as Shino stepped back to allow Kurenai some space in front of the prisoner.

"Who are you?"

"I-I'm Zri. One of..." His mouth suddenly stopped and he glanced at the dead shinobi next to him. "...Formerly one of the demon brothers."

"What were you doing here?"

"We were on a mission to eliminate Tazuna the bridge-builder."

"Who's your employer?"

"Some rich guy called Gatou."

"Were you the only ones he hired?"

"No, he also hired Momochi Zabuza and his pet and a small army of mercenaries."

"Anything else I should know?"

"Yes, Zabuza's pet is stronger than Zabuza himself and disguises himself as a hunter-nin.

"That's all?"

"...Yes."

The kunai plunged forward into the demon brother's unprotected neck. The only resistance kurenai met was the pleading look she got. She shrugged it off, she'd killed before. It never got easier, but you eventually learned to forget it.

"Tazuna, I'd like to have a word." Kurenai and Tazuna walked out of earshot, away from the rest.

The members of team eight were still trying to get over what they've seen. They'd always known they'd have to kill eventually. Just not now. And not like this.

Kiba had lost all of his usual bluster and kept staring at what was left of the more unfortunate of the two demon brothers. Hinata was crying and hugging her knees, rocking gently back and forth. Naruto was staring at team eleven with anger and disgust on his face. "You!" he screamed at them, clenching his left fist tightly and pointing at them with his right hand unsteadily, tears streaming over his face as well.

They looked up at him, except for Ino. Ino just kept staring straight at Dashimaru, indicating that she'd heard but that she couldn't or wouldn't look. Shino was unreadable, and Dashimaru's face held pity and understanding.

"You killed him!!" Naruto was now pointing only at Shino, but his finger returned to Ino and Dashimaru. "And you... You just sat there and talked." He was on the brink of hysteria now, and it soon became too much for him. He closed his eyes, wishing the world would go away for a second, and all went dark.

* * *

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in some sort of underground sewer. He could see, but only for several meters in all directions. The pathway met a wall on either side, and he only had 2 feet to move to the left or the right. He was standing in water that came up to his ankles, but he didn't care. He had no idea how he'd come to be here, but he was thankful. Now he could take his time to think things over before he did anything stupid.

_Shino actually killed that guy. _naruto felt that he was starting to lose it again, so he sat down in the water and held his head for a couple of minutes until he became calm again.

_I need to list the pros and cons. I'll start with the cons to get it over with. One, Shino killed that guy. Two, Shino tortured him before he died. Three, he tortured the other guy. Four, Kurenai killed the other guy. Five, Ino and Dashimaru were just... talking. _He found that last one the worst. They didn't really do anything bad, but they didn't care that others were doing it. He felt disgusted.

**"Hmph, you disgust me! How about that?"**

"... Who was that?"

**"Uhm, lets see. I have a bold-printed demonic voice, that means it's the real deal, and you know of only one demon. Guess!"**

All of his other worries were instantly forgotten as Naruto realized he was in some sewers together with the mightiest demon to ever have roamed any world. "K-Kyuubi?"

**"They really need to teach you kids matters. Name me by my title, brat!" **Naruto felt huge waves of killing intent sweep over him before he managed to collect his wits and give in to the demon's demands.

"Gomen nasai, Kyuubi-sama." With this, the killer intent dissipated.

**"Much better, brat. Now come here, we need to talk"**

"Hai!" Naruto carefully made his way to where he estimated the owner of the voice to be, the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

He finally entered a large chamber that was divided by a wall of thick metal bars. Behind these bars lurked the presence of an incredible, orange beast. Untamed and in its full glory, Naruto beheld the demon with gaping jaws.

**"Finally, took you long enough."**

The blond boy flinched, but then mustered up enough courage to spit the demon back in its face, verbally of course.

"I wonder, why does the almighty Kyuubi lower itself to petty insults? I thought you were more of the no thinking, just killing type."

The Kyuubi gave a nasty grin. **"Believe me, kit. If I could kill you, I would. But, alas, I'm stuck inside some dobe knucklehead wearing an orange jumpsuit. Are you trying to make a fool out of us?"**

Naruto was flabbergasted, gobsmacked and every other word that indicates a person to be stunned. "What?"

**"You don't even know that?" You're even more ignorant than I thought you'd be. And it's really simple too." **The Kyuubi sighed in mock disappointment before continuing. **"Here's the deal. That stupid guy with your haircut sealed me into you to stop me from attacking your puny village. That's why everybody hated you and everything, although I admit it might also just be your tremendous stupidity and ugliness." **The demon finished with a false smirk.

"The-the guy with my haircut? You mean the yondaime hokage?"

**"Of course I mean him. Do you know any other guy who is as blond as you and doesn't bleach it or anything?"  
**

"No... So... the yondaime was the one who cursed me to this life..?"

**"Yep, he must've really hated you." **The Kyuubi yawned. **"Anyhow, I think it's time for you to wake up, there seems to be some trouble outside." **

Naruto looked at him, confused. "What do you mean outsiiiii..." He never got to finish the sentence as he was flung back to consciousness.

* * *

"Kurenai-sensei, he's waking up." naruto heard Kiba say.

"Good, cause we might need all the help we can get." The woman replied.

Naruto groggily opened his eyes. "What's going on?"

"We've encountered Momochi Zabuza, formerly one of the seven swordsmen from Kirigakure no Sato." Came Shino's ever formal answer.

"Who?" Kiba asked. "How do you know that?"

This time it was Ino who answered. "Genma-sensei gave all of us an old bingo book so we'd know who we were up against if we ever encountered a missing nin. That way we'd know how to defeat him."

"Or at the least we'd know the name of our killer." Dashimaru remarked dryly.

Ino humphed. "You have absolutely no tact. That's why you'll never get a girl."

Dashimaru stared blankly at her before looking up at one of the trees. "Whatever."

Naruto followed his gaze and his eyes came to rest upon a guy standing on a massive sword. The sword was halfway through the trunk and Naruto admired it for a moment before looking back at the eyebrow-less nuke-nin.

"Hand over the old man and you won't get killed." Zabuza stated simply.

Kurenai didn't give in. "Run away, and you might not get killed."

Dashimaru and Ino once again sighed at the horrible trash talk.

"I guess we'll just have to do it the hard way, then." The mask wearing man quickly formed some handseals to call forth a a misty blanket of water particles, leaving everyone unable to see more than two feet in any direction.

"Form a protective circle around Tazuna, we can't let anything happen to him." The six genin quickly did so. "God damn it, I can't see him." the genjutsu mistress cursed.

"He's five feet to your left." Shino said.

Kurenai twisted and was just in time to dodge the massive great-sword

"There are two others of him who smell of water." Kiba supplied, sniffing the air.

Kurenai cursed and dodged two more cleavers, she then jumped back to gain more ground, but couldn't find the swordsman anymore. "Kiba, Shino, give me his position."

A loud sound of metal on metal came from the direction the group was in, followed by the strained voice of Dashimaru. "He's right here."

Kurenai cursed and sprinted forwards to help. When Kiba's warning shout came, it was already too late. A second Zabuza appeared behind her and gave her a quick jab. She fell to the ground, unconscious. Zabuza was about to finish the job when the genjutsu dispersed and he felt a kunai to his neck. Without mercy, she dug the knife in. Her eyes widened when the water clone turned back to its original state and she was brutely kicked in her side. She stumbled through the air and landed in the water. When she resurfaced, Zabuza immediately caught her in a water prison.

The sword wielder gave a satisfied smirk. "Ha, I'll admit you're pretty good, but now you get to watch as my clone takes care of your kiddies and the old man.

"Run away," she ordered her subordinates "His water bunshins will get weaker the further away from the water they get. This mission is not worth getting killed over."

Naruto, Kiba and Hinata looked ready to bolt, but team eleven stepped forwards defiantly. "We're not your team, so you can't tell us what to do." The pony-tailed girl spoke.

"You are my team on this mission. Now go!" She was getting desperate. Genma's team was about to be brutally slaughtered. That's when her team formed a resolve as well.

"We're fighting as well. I'm not gonna' turn my back on a mission." Naruto declared proudly.

"You don't understand. This guy's insane. He slaughtered over 100 other kids in his genin exam."

"We know." Dashimaru said simply. "That's how he got his nickname. The demon of the hidden mist."

"Interesting, you brats are quite knowledgeable. But you don't know the most important thing, apparently. And that is that you don't have a chance against me. Now hand over the geezer and I'll let you and your sensei go."

There were six resounding "No!"s at this.

Zabuza cocked his head. "then you die!"

The bunshin ran forward and took a swipe with his sword at the closwest genin who happened to wear an orange jumpsuit.  
Naruto managed to jump away, but got a nasty gash along the back of his left hand. The clone just grinned. Dashimaru now jumped into the fray and tried to tackle the clone, who stepped just out of reach and then came back with an overhand swing. Dashimaru managed to block with two kunai, but was in a bad position. That's when Kiba came running in with a claw swipe, forcing the clone to jump back onto the water. The real zabuza saw that his bunshin was having a hard time and resolved this issue by making another ten

Dashimaru cursed as he took out two kunai and signaled discreetly to Ino, who then took up residence in the bushes. Kiba took a soldier pill and pashed one to Akamaru as well, at which the dog turned a dark maroon. Kiba then used his animal clone jutsu to turn Akamaru into a second him. Naruto took out a kunai and assumed his fighting pose. Shino started sending out his bugs Hinata went into a gentle fist stance.

The water bunshins darted forwards and the battle began. Kiba and Akamaru both took on two, mainly dodging strikes with their speed, but not managing to get a strike in themselves. Naruto took on two as well and managed to take out one of them with his relentless attacks, using his stamina and healing abilities to the fullest. He got some more nasty cuts through this, though, and his right arm was broken from when he used it to block one of the cleavers. He still remained upright, and he and his opponent reached some sort of impasse. Hinata took on only one clone, not trusting her abilities enough to confront another one at the same time. She countered or dodged all strikes, but didn't even come close to launching a counterattack.

Shino had made some bug clones and easily took out the first of his three opponents by surprising it. The others were more on their guard after that, but Shino still had an advantage with his bugs and managed to take a second down. Dashimaru had taken on one opponent so he could take it out quickly and then help the others. The fight was mainly one of double kunai versus giant cleaver. In the end, he managed to stab the clone with one kunai while blocking with the other.

The clone battle was quickly resolved after that. Akamaru and Dashimaru together were more than a match for two clones. Akamaru went to help his master after that, and Dashimaru dashed away to help Hinata, who had gotten cut in her left leg and could no longer dodge, making her an easy prey. The clone had made good use of that and was literally busy mauling her. Shino took out the third clone as well, and together they helped Naruto.

Zabuza was amused, but pissed off as well. The brats were pretty strong, but that would make his mission significantly harder. He assumed the girl who'd hidden herself had been taken care of by Haku. Going on right now could present a problem, the opposition was just too large. He decided he'd come back later with reinforcements. With that, he nodded at the genin, and dissapeared with a puff of smoke.

Kurenai stumbled from her prison and continued looking at her and Genma's students. She'd known hers were strong, but not this strong, and Shino and Dashimaru were even stronger. Slowly, it dawned on her. Where was Ino.

Dashimaru took note of her searching look and immediately dived into the bushes. He found Ino lying there, unconscious, with senbon protruding from several parts of her body. He picked her up bridal style and carried her back to the main group. "I found her like this, she was probably taken out by Zabuza's pet."

"What was she doing in the forest?" Kurenai wondered.

"Ino can use her clan jutsu to take over someone's mind, bu she needs a clear shot. I figured that if she'd hide somewhere she'd be able to take over Zabuza and turn the battle. But I didn't count on a second enemy..."

"Well, you guys did really good, but I suggest we get going now. How far do we still need to go, Tazuna-san?"

"We're almost at the city, and it's only a ten minute walk from there." The bridge builder replied.

"Good, let's make haste people. I don't want any more surprises." With that, the group left.

* * *

When they got to Tazuna's house, Kurenai immediately called for a briefing. "Okay kids, things have been a bit hectic on a journey and I generally like to know what's going on, so I'm going to ask some questions. Okay?"

They all nodded.

"Good. First of all," She fixed Shino with a firm gaze, "You killed a man. Why?"

Shino raised an eyebrow. "Because we needed information."

Kurenai looked lost. "But... You killed a human being in cold blood, but you're only twelve years old."

The bug user finally nodded in understanding. "We of the Aburame clan learn to distance ourselves from other human beings and instead focus on our relationships with bugs. For me, killing a human is like killing an insect would be to one of you."

Kurenai nodded. She'd feared that killing was something normal for Shino. This answer wasn't really to her liking either, but it was better than the alternative. "And what about you two," She pointed at Shino's teammates, "You didn't seem to be affected in the slightest?"

Ino's face turned blank and slightly green at this, Dashimaru answered the question. "I've seen death before, and I'm not really affected by it anymore unless it concerns someone close to me. As for Ino, I guessed up front what Shino was going to do and had her look the other way. I then told Ino to play along and striked a normal conversation. Ino's a really good actress and played the part good enough to fool you as well. I just figured some psychological torture would help to get him talking." He shrugged as he said this. Ino nodded sickly.

This didn't surprise Kurenai really, she'd noticed Ino suddenly becoming very quiet and downtrodden after they'd left, so...  
Also, she'd need to talk with Dashimaru later to discuss those other deaths.

"Alright, then. Naruto, do you know why you passed out?"

Naruto nodded, and flinched as he remembered his encounter with Kyuubi. "Yeah, I uh... retreated to my inner self sorta'..." He gave a sheepish grin and scratched the back of his neck.

Everyone gave him a weird look at that. "Uhm, I'd rather not discuss it with everyone here, Kurenai-sensei." This earned him even more raised eyebrows. "But what happened after I passed out?"

"We decided to keep moving and have someone carry you. There was some trouble over who, but that was eventually sorted out as well." Kurenai narrowed her eyes at Kiba and Dashimaru for a moment before continuing. "After about two hours, Zabuza threw his sword at us and missed, and that's when you decided to... leave you inner self." The last part was mocking, but only slightly.

"But back to my questions, I only have one left. Ino, what happened after you hid in the bushes?"

Ino gave her a blank look. "I don't know, I was just preparing my family jutsu when everything went black. Next thing I know, Dashimaru is carrying me..."

Kurenai nodded. "That's too bad, any information on the fake hunter-nin would have been welcome. Okay, I still have something to discuss with Naruto, so if the rest of you would suddenly decide to take a shower, that would be really welcome."

"Especially you, dog boy." Ino joked.

"Hey!" Kiba exclaimed before retorting.

The door closed behind them and Sensei plus student were left alone.

"So," Kurenai asked. "What did you want to tell me that you couldn't say in front of the others?"

"...I spoke to the Kyuubi..."

Kurenai's breath hitched. She knew the big, bad demon had been sealed into the boy, but that they'd be able to communicate with each other... Did this mean that the seal was weakening. If that was true it was almost too bad to think about. "Naruto... Is the seal weakening?"

Naruto just looked at her. What seal? Then he remembered the small paper tag on Kyuubi's prison. It didn't seem to be damaged, but he wasn't sure. He brightened up. "Just a sec, I'll go check." He closed his eyes and willed himself back to the sewer-like environment. He opened his eyes again and found that it had worked. He immediately took off towards where he'd gone last time. He got lost once but managed to get to the large room eventually.

"Hey, fox! Guess who's back?"

The great demon just rolled its eyes. **"Let me guess. He's short, ugly and has no brains? Oh, I know. It's you. And I prefer to be called vixen."**

naruto stared dumbly "Vixen?"

**"yes! A vixen." **No recognition. **"A female fox?"**

Comprehension slowly dawned on Naruto's face. "Ooh... You're female?"

The great demon rolled her eyes again. **"No! I was just making a joke..."**

Naruto gave a satisfied nod. "Okay."

The great demon just stared at the blond idiot, having a hard time believing that anyone could be this dense. **"No! seriously. I'm female."**

"But you said..."

**"I don't give a fuck about what I said. I'm female, savvy?"**

Naruto shook his head, then thought about it for a couple of seconds and nodded instead.

**"Good... What the hell are you doing here?"**

"Ehm, I was going to check if the seal was still working... But you can't be female."

The female demon got a dangerous look on her face, which Naruto didn't notice. **"Why not?"**

"Because you're evil." Naruto proclaimed full of confidence.

**"So" **The Kyuubi's eyes narrowed.

"So..." Naruto waited a couple of seconds for a more grand theatrical effect. "So, you can't be female."

The reply to this statement was such a large amount of killer intent that Naruto immediately woke up and wasn't able to talk for ten minutes. This had Kurenai immensely worried and running all medical tests she knew on him. She was about to start with the embarrassing ones when Naruto awoke from his stupor.

"I think he's female..."

"NANI??"

* * *

**And this is where I end this chapter. Hope you all liked it. About Kyuubi, I've read a lot of stories where Kyuubi is female and goody, a lot of stories where Kyuubi is male and goody, a lot of stories where Kyuubi is evil and male, but no stories whatsoever where Kyuubi is evil and female. What's up with that. I mean, I know from past experience that females can be very evil (Take my bloody sister for instance). Anyway, I guess that explains that. If you want to know how come Dashimaru already has seen people die, it will come up in a later chapter. For other questions just write a review. **

**Here's the poll score:  
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**Pairings, here are your options:**

**1. Naruto x Tenten 1  
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**2. Naruto x Temari 0  
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**3. Naruto x Ino 1  
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**4. Naruto x Yugito 0  
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**5. Naruto x OC 0  
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**6. Naruto x Yuko 0  
**

**Other pairings are open for all suggestions. Just put them in your review, hehehe.**

**As for Naruto's weapon:**

**1. Spear 0  
**

**2. Blade-spear 0  
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**3. Double sai 0  
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**4. Big over-sized sword like Zabuza's 1  
**

**5. Crossbow (sniper style) 1  
**

**6. No weapon 0**

**That's about it...**


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